Ken_Coles
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Posts posted by Ken_Coles
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Well, they do sound like busy server messages. I don't know why it has not happened to me yet. Maybe the active hours in your part of the world Stephen just have the most C.netters...
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There has been a Crane duet for some time on the Elderly Instruments Vintage web pages: Used Free reeds. They are in Lansing, Michigan.
Edited to add: Apologies, looks like they just sold it. Keep looking, good luck.
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Hermann, if you ever get to North America, sit down with Ken Sweeney. He plays Irish as well as anyone I've seen, and the only way to tell that he's playing an English concertina is to look at the instrument. His grip is unusual (someone has described it here before) and gives him two fingers on one end and four on the other end.
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Some people in North America may just be busy dealing with winter weather, like me. I got to to see the big snow in Indiana/Ohio, the rains in L.A., and the ice storm in Ohio. Almost a relief to be back at work! I've had no access problems and I use a slow connection and an outdated browser.
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I’m considering a try at the “Cajun accordion”. I’ve always loved the sound of one but have never even held one before. (I had never held a concertina before buying one either but have become fairly proficient with it).
There are several things that attract me to the Cajun style accordion. It’s diatonic system would make it easier to learn, since I already play an anglo, and the small size, unique sound and overall appearance appeal to my sense of something “different”.
I was wondering if any of you could answer a few questions for me.
1. Does anyone here have one and are they as enjoyable to play as they seem to be?
I have two (plus a one-row Vienna in G]. My Cajuns are the Hohner black 114 I learned on and a Walnut one in C by Marc Savoy. Are they fun? You bet.
2. Is it truly the same as a melodeon? Is the difference in tuning?In a little over a century the types have diverged. The Cajun has a voice and presence unlike the other one- or two-row boxes I've used. It isn't really small; authentic ones are rather weighty compared to a concertina (I use a shoulder strap), though much smaller than a full size piano accordion.
3. Is the Hohner Ariette a good starter?They're better than they used to be. In 1997, when I started, they were junky, leaky, and fell apart very quickly. Both they and a 114C depreciated maybe $200, so I bought the latter to learn on. I used it the first time I went to Augusta Cajun week (1998) to take Rose Sinclair's class. It has a bit of tremolo and is much lighter than an Ariette or Louisiana box. Some zydeco players still use Hohners, but not so many as a few years ago. The Ariette is better now, so that the market for a used 114 has nearly dried up.
4. Would I be better off saving my money until I could afford a custom Acadian from Marc Savoy (who has what I think is the most beautiful style of accordion out there. I want one bad.)?Well the same question here about concertinas gets a lot of answers saying buy whatever you can to start and save your money, while others say start only at the very top. When giving advice (or learning an instrument myself) I fall in the former camp.
5. Are there any special considerations to think about in purchasing one?There is a lot of obfuscation about brands when you ask for advice. Larry Miller, Marc Savoy, and Junior Martin (all highly regarded) build full-time, and there are lots of part-timers out there (some great, some not). The way I did it was to go to lots of music events and visit Cajun players I met, and squeeze all the boxes when they were handed around. Whenever I got one I liked, I looked at the name on it. For me, the one that clicked was a Savoy (Acadian brand), but I wouldn't try to talk anyone else out of making their own choice. There are folks on the Web who will pull that on you. I find it silly. Imagine if there were endless fights here over Suttner vs. Dipper vs. Dickinson etc. The membership would weary of it; I know I would, and it serves no purpose. On one major Cajun web site there is an anecdote posted by someone slamming Savoy and saying he deserves no credit or business at all. When you read between the lines, it turns out the writer dropped in on Marc unannounced expecting him to drop his work and entertain two visitors. In fact, Marc has freely given advice and help to many other beginning makers. I have found Marc and every other Cajun I have dealt with to be great people, especially if you remember to bring your manners with you. Same as in the concertina-making world.
6. Renting one first? A good thought but where?I don't know about renting, but it is common to borrow. If you are anywhere near Pittsburgh you can borrow my Hohner (or buy it!
). Are there any jams or musicians near you? That was my one frustration...only this year have I moved to an area where there are other players who get together to play; true in only a few parts of the U.S.I recognize the oncoming fever to have one of these so I’m trying to gather as much information as I can. Any help would be greatly appreciated.No need to explain. Everyone here knows the symptoms!
Write me off-bbs if you want to hear more. -
I join Alan in the praise for the FAQ list of Chris. It should however be exposed better in this site. Maybe one of the top-menu items (Ken??).
Alan: FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions
Maybe it would be helpful to have a "FAQ" entry (linking to Chris' FAQ, with his permission) up there in the top menu, right next to "Search"?I suspect that many of us have gotten so caught in the trap of thinking only of the Concertina.net Forums -- not even the rest of Concertina.net -- when we want concertina-related information that we expect the Concertina.net structure, rather than each other, to tell us even about the existence of other resources. And maybe another button needed at the top is the rest of Concertina.net, to remind us all that Paul and Ken (with contributions from many others) also provide a lot of non-Forum stuff for us here on Concertina.net.
First of all, menus at the tops of C.net pages are up to Paul. He writes and has sole access to code that executes dynamically, which is what generates the top and bottom of each page you see here. I'm not even conversant with that sort of programming (though I expect I could learn it if circumstances required).
As you may have noted, Paul said reconstructing these menus for the new, forum part of the site is one of the things he will do as we get adjusted to the forum upgrade. So bear with us.Yes, several times a week I wonder how many people here have forgotten about/not explored the older or static part of the site. I go past the home page once or twice a day (that is how Paul and I keep up with changes each of us has made; they are listed prominently there). The link we had (and likely will have again) on the forum pages to "Concertina.net home" took you there and is intended as a door to all the content there. If a new person even skims the home page (and yes, revision is always in order, and in process on those pages) they will get some idea of how much is available. Same goes for the FAQ. I know, some of you would suggest other names for the links, etc. But the real issue is, as any teacher can tell you: You can give someone a book. You can put a table of contents, an index, all sorts of aids, highlighing etc. in it. But only when the person actually reads the book do they get the message that was put in it.
It seems to me we have to remember this facet of human nature - as a teacher with typically dopey college students I would go nuts every day if I obssessed over this - and continue to gently point people in the right direction. Oh, and everyone remember to
because playing concertina is fun; that's how all this started, right? -
Tee Hee! When you figure out how to do it Henk, let us know!
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Ken the QUOTE buttons are visible, but maybe not when you are half-sleeping
Henk, don't assume that what anyone sees in their Web browser is the same as what you see in yours, especially during an upgrade...Web browsers are all individual after you set them up to suit yourself, and they are the most bug-prone software I normally deal with. The buttons were not there at the time I was writing, and it is because (I think) my Web browser (I was using MSIE 5.2 for Mac at the time, no doubt out of date) was garbling them. It's working now.
Onward and upward.
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OK, I found the quote button; my browser is losing it off to one side. Maybe it is time I made a dummy account for myself that doesn't have admin rank, so I can see what things really look like. And time I upgraded by browser, too.
The Outline display seems to be the first and last post, will all the others listed in order by poster and their first few words. Handy for topics that are way over one page, even if it is not a real "threaded" display. I found some other handy buttons (maybe there were there before and I never noticed) but I'll let you experience those should you be the curious sort.
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Near the top of the new display of a topic it says "outline standard linear." If you try "outline" one of the things you get looks sort of like the old threading display. I can't tell if it goes more than one layer deep; I bet you folks (the usual suspects) will figure that out shortly (where was that thread with the endless nested quotes? That would tell us!).
OTOH, the quote buttons have vanished from my browser's display of the forums, though quoting manually still seems to work (I'm not used to the new appearance of quotes yet. Soon enough). Bear with us, we'll see if we can figure out where the quote buttons went (the documentation says they are still there).
Ken (off to bed)
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With reference to another thread (the one on construction style preference), does anyone think that the new accordion-reeded instruments are driving down prices for entry-level vintage instruments (esp. the mahogany Lachenals?) Or perhaps the prices of the accordion-reeded instruments have risen to the point ($1600-2000) where they share the market with the Lachenals?
I've had a couple of Lachenals over the years, but far prefer my Tedrow for reliability and airtightness, and don't feel that I'm compromising as far as tone quality goes.
My impression is the Lachenal market is softer than a few years ago. Before the hybrids the prices steadily rose, but the new choices made the Lachenal prices stop zooming and perhaps even slide back a little. Just my impression.
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I'm not involved in the upgrade process, but don't be surprised (and continue to be patient) if not everything works right immediately. It may not be all over this evening. We _are_ looking at things during this process! At a time like this I'd suggest you give any quirks 24 hours to go away before reporting in.
And thanks to Mark S. for reading the home page...we'd love to have all of you stop by there now and then. cheers,Ken, assistant bottle washer
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The annual list of summer schools is now posted on this page. Revisions or additions are welcome; let me know.
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I've just put up a list of U.S. and Canada-based classes I'm aware of for 2005 at the Summer School page. Some have the full schedule and staff posted on their Web sites; others have only dates, so check back here, or check with the school of your choice. Anyone who has details or corrections for the list, please let me know.
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Well, like my recording technology I'm old and outdated myself, but am still using the same minidisk recorder for music classes. I have perhaps 80 or 100 disks on archive. I used to transfer them all to the computer and then CD, but recently I've only done that with the ones I consider most important. When the MD wears out I guess I'll have to revisit this question, but the fi is so hi that I've no motive to do so now (leaving more cash, ha, to spend on instruments).
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A perennial truth is that there's no substitute for trying them in person, so tell us what part of the world you are in and maybe one of us is nearby.
My experience with cheap anglos is out of date relative to what is now available, so I'll defer to others on that question.
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Recently, recovering from a disc op on my back and dying to get back to some concertina, I picked up from first choice the Albion treble, 6 fold bellows and no leaks, light and easy to play standing upright. As I gradually resumed the familiar tunes I realised that the 'rattly' harmonic seemed absent, the top C was perfect, the tone sounded much better, and further the volume seemed to have increased too.
I was so delighted about this that unusually I took it to a session on Boxing day (the first for many weeks). Within 5 mins my local friendly fiddler lady commented on 'the lovely tone of your new concertina' . Today, it still sounds as good (so it was not the red wine) compared with it's stablemates.
Yes, heap scorn if you will (and I would ) but this box has definitely changed with playing over many months, a not unheard of phenomenon with free reed instruments. Is it work hardening of the reeds ? Is it to do with temperature/humidity ? Whatever, I am so glad that I still have it.
I was under the impression that part of this effect is changes in the wood (selective stiffening?) as with a guitar. Guitars that are well-played-in are considered more desirable than new ones (if well made) for this reason, and removing and reapplying the guitar's varnish is considered destructive of this aging. What the counterpart of revarnishing would be on a concertina I don't know!
My Morse has definitely mellowed in 3-1/2 years of heavy use. And I'll note Chris Timson's reported experience that installing baffles is another way to mellow a new instrument.
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Congratulations, Rhomylly! I have been offline for a few days so am just catching up. I am in L.A., which is not sunny but rainy, but they like that here, it is far too rare. My two cents on hands (which mirrors all stated above) is already posted on C-net.
So, does concertina playing make family additions more likely? It happened to Paul S. when his son was born!
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I heard this interview, and I suspect this also - the usage we sometimes see in Louisiana and Latin America (and I've also encountered in older Nova Scotians), where people say "concertina" to mean what some of us call melodeon or button accordion/accordeon (or possibly even a bandoneon). Also an endemic usage among antique dealers - it must be in some price guide that way.
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Egads! You should be asking for condolences, not just comments. You certainly have my sympathy.
If my long-awaited Dipper ever comes it won't get passed around much, that's for sure...It is definitely an issue. I know Lachenals are no comparison, but to illustrate: I had one that was nice and tight (well, for a Lachenal) and took 30 seconds to open. One that opened in 10 seconds was too leaky to play easily at speed (these were anglos). I'm certain Colin would deliver a new box in _very_ tight condition. Maybe your friend (if he still is one) should pay postage for you to send it back to Colin. Just where the air seal was broken is hard for this amateur to guess - there are a lot of possible places. Maybe our resident repairmen (Frank?) would have an idea of some possibilities you could check for yourself.
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It is the perennial numbering of an introductory or survey course in many American colleges and Universities. My astronomy course is actually 105-106, but that is because 101-102 is Geology and 103-104 is Meteorology/Oceanography in my Dept. But English 101, Chemistry 101, etc. are common requirements many people rue having to take at the time and lampoon/imitate years later. Hence "NNN 101" as the name for any introductory survey. Had no idea it was a solely American usage (how typical of a Yankee) but then I never thought about it. I tend to use other terms myself.
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I bought a very similar box 14 years ago. There is a picture of it in the early part of this essay on Italian concertinas. Not valuable certainly, but mine was fun to start on.
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Gee Bill, I'm starting to feel like an old-timer, as much of this ambition on the part of Rich and other makers has been floating around for some time. I remember hearing about it and seeing the prototype of the now-Ceili made by Dana J. back in 1998 (said prototype is actually closer to the Kensington). Of course if the search function were working better here (oh-oh, that's my problem again) you could look up several threads on this from the last year anyway (esp. on Haydens and reed-making).
And yes, like fretted instruments (which have had their own renaissance) you will likely continue to see innovations.
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Stuart, you are right, I remembered about Norman 36 key anglos after I posted.
Rich, I guess my interest would depend on the choice between some classic 36-key layout and getting to place some of the buttons and notes myself (e.g. a low D and F# down by the lowest notes) along with the classic duplications/reversed notes on a C/G. But the 36-40 key itch is still an under-addressed piece of the market. And you're welcome for that free advice!
English Concertina Goes Irish
in Teaching and Learning
Posted
I have been to many US seisuns that are not in old Irish areas, and in those places, the (mostly self-taught, mostly leearned-as-adult) musicians don't care what you play. The difficulty with AC vs. EC only comes up in a few places for example parts of Boston, New York, and Chicago in my experience. Those are seisuns I'm not good enough to play in most of the time anyway; just listen. It has been said many times, each instrument brings its own approach, ornaments, etc. and EC is part of that. Its part of the tradition, which varies at different speeds in different places. I can imagine an old timer in 1875 saying, "I don't know about these newfangled wood flutes, the fiddle or pipes are the thing."